Absentee ministers send Parliament into recess

How do you solve the problem of ministers consistently dodging Parliament? What sanctions should be meted out to ministers who have made it a habit not to attend to Parliament? Should the sanctions be as punitive as those meted out by the military? Should the ministers in question be referred to the Rules Committee to explain their uninspiring performance?

These are the questions that Parliament grappled with this week after government failed to generate business, with ministers dodging Parliament, leaving plenary with no substantive matters to handle and ultimately forcing the Speaker to send the House on recess.

Rule 103, which touches on ministers attending plenary, is clear. It reads: “For any ministry, the minister or at least the State minister shall attend sittings of the House; and where none of them is able to attend, a minister shall request another minister to represent that ministry’s interests in the House and notify the Speaker accordingly.”

Rule 103(2) requires the Leader of Government Business to ensure that sub-rule (1) is complied with.

But ministers have been dodging the House with reckless abandon. On Tuesday, when Dokolo Woman MP Cecilia Ogwal brought the matter of ministers’ absenteeism to the attention of the House, only a handful of ministers were on the front bench.

“The front bench has continued to be empty. And I can see how the Government Chief Whip struggles to speak for minister this, minister that. There are people who have accepted to be in positions but they do not want to serve this country. Parliament is being condemned every day. Even when Cabinet ministers are not attending Parliament, it will still be Parliament to blame,” Ms Ogwal said.

‘Four plus ministers’
Leader of Opposition Winnie Kiiza pointed out that with the big number of ministers, a particular ministry should be represented at any one time in Parliament.

“Everybody is concerned about the absence of ministers even when they are huge in numbers. There is no single ministry with only one minister, maybe Science and Technology. You will find a ministry of four plus ministers. I do not know whether they all travel at once, “Ms Kiiza said.

For a Cabinet of more than 80 ministers, Speaker Rebecca Kadaga was lost for words, wondering why ministers never bother to attend Parliament. Ministers’ absenteeism has been a bother since the 9th Parliament.

With ministers expected to table Bills, statements, motions and respond to MPs’ questions regarding their dockets, their absence often cripples the House. At some point in the 9th Parliament, the Indigenous and Complementary Medicines Bill (2015), a critical Bill needed to regulate the use of indigenous medicines, stalled as the line minister was unavailable to table the Bill, which is yet to be passed.

And it is not only plenary that is being affected by ministers’ absenteeism, but committees too. The Committee on Public Service and Local Government has twice been forced to adjourn proceedings regarding failure by the government to conduct Local Council elections because the Finance minister was absent.

The Health Committee that is investigating the bungled up response by the Health ministry to the spread of the Hepatitis B virus was frustrated on Tuesday after Finance ministry officials failed to attend. The Health and Finance ministries are locked in a dispute over the response to Hepatitis B, with Finance saying the Health ministry has failed to use money submitted and can’t get more cash.

And then ministers, as one MP pointed out, have a tendency of signing to attend plenary, check into the chambers for a few minutes and disappear. Hefty allowances to attend plenary mean ministers line their pockets by signing the register and absenting themselves.

During the 9th Parliament, Speaker Kadaga famously conducted an impromptu roll call, exposing four unnamed Cabinet ministers who signed for sitting allowances then missed the plenary session.

Tororo County MP Annet Nyakecho tried unsuccessfully to defend State minister for Investment Evelyn Anite who has rarely attended sittings of the 10th Parliament. Speaker Kadaga rejected the excuse that Ms Anite is sick, ruling that she should have informed the Speaker’s office as required by the rules.

Finding solutions
But what can be done to force ministers to attend sittings of the House?

Shadow attorney general Wilfred Niwagaba suggested that the ministers who have missed 15 sittings should be referred to the Rules, Discipline and Privileges Committee for investigation. House rules bar members from missing 15 or more sittings of the House, except with the permission of the Speaker.

The 9th Parliament expelled two MPs – Tony Kipoi and Gen David Sejusa – for missing 15 plenary sittings without the Speaker’s permission. But given the good relations enjoyed by most ministers and MPs, having them arraigned before the Rules, Privileges and Discipline Committee might be unlikely.

Cabinet has only 13 ex-officios [non-MP ministers], meaning such a rule would come in handy in biting them and forcing them to take Parliament business seriously.

First Deputy Prime Minister Moses Ali, who is also the Deputy Leader of Government Business in Parliament, was more imaginative in trying to find a lasting solution that would force ministers to attend Parliament business.

Gen Ali proposed that Cabinet should introduce military-like sanctions to punish ministers who continuously dodge the sittings of the House, explaining that Cabinet has on several occasions discussed the matter.

“We have struggled about this issue of absenteeism. In Cabinet, we have talked about it. But we lack sanctions. In the army, we do not forgive. You make a mistake and you are punished so that you do not think that there is a mistake that is forgivable,” Gen Ali said.

To further illustrate how indifferent ministers are, Government Chief Whip Ruth Nankabirwa revealed that though they are required to inform the Prime Minister as and when they travel, they rarely do so.

About the rules
Rule 103, which touches on ministers attending plenary, is clear. It reads: “For any ministry, the minister or at least the State minister shall attend sittings of the House; and where none of them is able to attend, a minister shall request another minister to represent that ministry’s interests in the House and notify the Speaker accordingly.”

Rule 103(2) requires the Leader of Government Business to ensure that sub-rule (1) is complied with.